Sealed Air accelerates sustainability efforts with “bold” 2025 goals

01 Nov 2018 --- Sealed Air has announced a new sustainability and plastics pledge to design and advance its packaging solutions to be 100 percent recyclable or reusable by 2025. The company says it will accelerate its use of recycled materials, expand reuse models for packaging and lead the collaboration with partners worldwide to ensure execution.

Sealed Air says it has pledged to accelerate its sustainability efforts by:

• Designing and advancing packaging solutions to be 100 percent recyclable or reusable.
• Setting out an ambitious target of 50 percent average recycled content across all packaging solutions of which 60 percent is post-consumer recycled content.
• Leading collaborations with partners worldwide to increase recycling and reuse rates.

“At Sealed Air, we strive to leave our world, environment and communities better than we found them by leading innovative efforts to create differentiated, sustainable solutions,” says Ted Doheny, Sealed Air President and CEO. “Our history of sustainability is strengthened through our new sustainability and plastics pledge and, as an industry leader, it’s our responsibility to build a waste-free future, keep our oceans clean and leave a lighter carbon footprint.”

“We are committed to developing packaging solutions that maximize product protection, resource efficiency and material circularity,” adds Ron Cotterman, Sealed Air Vice President, Corporate Innovation and Sustainability. “Plastic packaging materials need to be ideally suited to meet the essential requirements of today’s complex supply chains that demand properties such as sealability, toughness and clarity. By focusing on product design, renewable and recycled materials and recovery processes, we will drive innovations that enhance performance and efficiency.”

Sealed Air is a participant in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative and recently became a signatory to the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. More than 290 organizations comprising 20 percent of all plastic packaging produced globally signed to the Global Commitment to eradicate plastic waste at source and establish a circular economy for the material.

The Global Commitment aims to create “a new normal” for plastic packaging. Targets will be reviewed every 18 months and plan to become increasingly ambitious over the coming years. Businesses that sign the commitment will publish annual data on their progress to help drive momentum and ensure transparency.

In addition to this new global plastics commitment, Sealed Air continues to invest in an expanding portfolio of sustainable solutions such as food packaging made from Plantic plant-based starch and recovered materials, EcoPure plant-based cushioning foams, newly released Cryovac Darfresh skin packaging options made with recycled PET materials and curbside recyclable temperature assurance solutions.

PackagingInsights has contacted Sealed Air for more information on its 2025 sustainability goals.